Art Deco Weekend: Kids revel in retro on Deco day | Hawkes Bay News | Local News in Hawkes Bay

For the children at Lumsden Kindergarten in Hastings, it is always fun to learn new things - and also be a little bit fashionable, as they proved yesterday in a celebration of Art Deco.

In the past, teachers and families who support the kindergarten have helped the more than 50 youngsters, aged between 2 and 4, celebrate and learn about places such as Ireland, France and the United Kingdom.

To study Ireland, they celebrated St Patrick's Day with leprechauns and shamrocks, while their focus on France saw them meet a French family and eat crepes, as well as wear the red, white and blue of the tricolour.

"And we had an English tea party to celebrate the big royal wedding last year," head teacher Rakelle Wotherspoon said.

The children also learn about their own region. Art Deco Trust general manager Sally Jackson, whose daughter Olivia attends Lumsden, sparked the idea of the special day.

She offered to bring a vintage car to the school to show the children, and the idea for the event spread from there.

"We thought, let's have an Art Deco day," Ms Wotherspoon said, adding that it was fitting as the kindergarten's main block was itself an Art Deco building.

"We have been telling the children all about it - of how we had a big earthquake a long time ago and how people then built beautiful buildings.

"They understand what it's all about."

She said to get into the spirit of the upcoming Geon Art Deco Weekend, two of the teachers had created bow ties for the boys and headbands for the girls.

At the school's event yesterday, some children arrived in smart sailor suits and pretty frocks.

The youngsters had practised the Charleston dance and delighted their families with a rendition of it.

They also enjoyed a mini Gatsby picnic and the chance to get old-fashioned black-and-white family photographs taken.

Mrs Jackson was delighted with the way the youngsters embraced the day and equally delighted that the Art Deco theme continued to spread across the Bay among young and old.

She said that while Napier had become the centrepoint for the four-day festival, events staged in Hastings during the past two years had grown significantly and were now managed by a "focused" Hastings events committee.

She said the involvement from the wider Hawke's Bay community had been huge.

"We have a great event line-up in Hastings this year, which has proven to be successful," Mrs Jackson said.

"The Black Tie Ball at the Hawke's Bay Opera House is pretty much a sell-out event."

Hastings events include

Tuesday, Feb 14:11.30am: Music Alive - on city stage (free event)

Wednesday, Feb 15: 11.30am: Music Alive, on city stage (free event)

Thursday, Feb 16: 6pm: Costume Capers at the HB Opera House (free event) 7.30pm: Black Tie Ball in the Assembly Hall

Friday, Feb 17: 11am: Madness in the Mall (Art Deco clothing and knick-knack stalls 11.30am: Music Alive, on city stage (free event)

Saturday, Feb 18: 11.30am: Music Alive - on city stage (free event) 3.45pm: Steam Train - to Otane

Sunday, Feb 19: 8.30am: Hastings Farmers' Market (new event) 2.30pm: Steam train to Otane8pm: Will Martin in concert (HB Opera House)

Monday, Feb 20: 9am: Steam train, Napier to Wellington

Sunday, March 11: 2pm: "When the Dust Has Settled" picnic, Duart House, Havelock North.